Chocolate
Coffee Porter Cupcakes

by raspberryeggplant

Chocolate
and coffee and a classic pair, and these cupcakes really highlights how well
they go together. The cake features coffee two ways - a dose of strong brewed
coffee and coffee porter beer. Combined with the cocoa powder, these two items
give the cupcakes a deep, earthy, rich flavor, all in a fluffy, moist cupcake.
The silky meringue buttercream frosting also contains coffee, providing a
wonderful contrast in texture to the cake.

Make the cupcakes

Heat oven to 350 F.
Line a muffin pan with papers and set aside.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking
powder, and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

Add the granulated sugar, Turbinado sugar, milk,
coffee, beer, oil, vinegar, and vanilla to a medium bowl and whisk well to
combine. Scrape this mixture into the bowl containing the flour mixture and
whisk to combine.

Divide the batter between the lined cups and bake
until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out
clean, 22-25 minutes for full size cupcakes and 16-18 minutes for minis.

Let the cupcakes cool for 20 minutes in the pan,
then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting

Put the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a
standing mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water (the bottom of the bowl
should not touch the water) and whisk the mixture until it reaches 140 F. If
you don’t have a thermometer, don’t worry – the mixture will turn thick and
white and all the sugar should be dissolved – this should take about 5 minutes.

Transfer the bowl to the mixer and, with the whip
attachment, mix on high speed until the whites are fluffy and the bowl is cool
to the touch, 6-7 minutes.

Once the mixture is cool, add the butter a few
pieces at a time, mixing well before adding more. The mixture might start to
look curdled after you have added half of the butter. Don’t worry – just keep
adding the rest of the butter and keep mixing on high speed until the frosting
comes together and is smooth.

Once the frosting has come together, add the coffee
one tablespoon at a time, making sure each addition is fully incorporated
before adding the next. You may not need the full quarter cup depending on how
strong you made the coffee. It's better to make strong coffee and add a smaller
amount of it to the frosting than to make the coffee regular drinking strength,
thereby adding more liquid to the frosting - the more liquid you add, the less
stable your frosting will be.

Assemble the cupcakes

Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a
large star tip. Pipe swirls onto the top of each cupcake. If you want, decorate
the cupcakes with small fondant decorations or other decorations such as sugar
pearls or luster dust.

German Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

Filling

3 eggs

24 ounces cream
cheese (3 packs)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1.For the crust: Cream butter, sugar, and egg; add flour. Spread
in the bottom of a 9" spring form pan and bake for 5 minutes at 450,
remove and cool slightly.

2.For the filling: Cream the cream cheese, add sugar slowly, and
vanilla. Cream in eggs one at a time.
Add milk and flour.

4.Cool to room temp and put in refrigerate until chilled. Serve
cold.

5.Note: My friend just tosses all of the ingredients into the
mixer at once, but I think it comes out creamier if you mix them as listed.

German Cheesecake will have a different texture than
American, especially if you can get your hands on the German styled creamed
cheese. I can find it occasionally on Fort Leonard Wood and if you’re in a
larger city area, some stores carry it in their foreign specialty aisles

Mocha Chip Banana Bread

The key to a moist loaf is to not overbake. Ovens vary in temperature so start checking for doneness earlier then the suggested time.

1.5 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1.5 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs

2 medium bananas, mashed (1 cup)

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon hot milk

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl.

5. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

6. Bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes or until the top is light brown and a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. Be careful not to bake the bread too long or it will be dry.

7. Allow the bread to cool a few minutes before removing from the pan and cooling on a rack.*

8. Once the banana coffee bread is completely cooled, place the confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl with a teaspoon of coffee. Mix well and add more coffee until you have the consistency of thick syrup. Pour this glaze over the bread.

*Please note that if you want an even stronger coffee presence, use a basting brush to brush some coffee over the banana bread after you remove it from the pan. Once that has absorbed and the bread if completely cooled, proceed with the glaze.

Chai Haleeb (Karak Tea) Recipe:

-1
cup of milk

-2
tea spoons of brown sugar (or normal sugar)

-A
generous sprinkle of cardamon

-Some
fresh ginger (About the size of a walnut)

-A
tea bag

Directions:

1.Put
the milk in a pan and add all the other ingredients and keep heating until it
reaches a boil.

2.Keep
submerging the tea bag until the milk turns into a rich beige color.

3.When
it is boiling and richly colored, use a sieve to pour the liquid into a cup and
discard all the solids that are left.

This
is great with biscuits such as ten seed rusks.

Rangina

It
consists of Cooked flour, dates, pistachio, and walnuts. It could be somewhat
healthy, if the flour wasnt drowned in butter that is. But it is indeed
something special, and very traditional.

It
doesnt usually look this tidy, as this is a modern version of it. The classic
version is usually made in a pot, and then is put into a big bowl and thats it.
Here, it has been put into a bowl then cut into squares.

Ingredients:

-3
cups whole-wheat flour

-150 grams
butter, melted

-1 1/4
cups normal sugar

-1/2
tablespoon cardamon

-2
cups pitted dates

-3/4
cup chopped walnuts

-1/4
cups powdered pistachios

DIRECTIONS:

First
of all, place the 3 cups of flour into a pan and heat over medium high heat,
keep doing that until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and
allow cooling. Add the sugar, cardamom, and butter and mix. If it is extremely
crumbly, add some more butter until it reaches a slightly held together batter
that is still slightly crumbly. We don’t want to become like a dough.

Line
a pan with baking paper and press the mixture into the bottom. Put the dates
into the microwave for about 30 seconds in order to soften them so they are
easier to handle. When cooled, press the date above the mixture and then
sprinkle with the walnuts and pistachio. Press the walnuts and pistachios
slightly into the dates in order to keep them attached to them.

Place
the pan into the fridge for about 2-3 hours (Or overnight if possible) then cut
into squares.

These
are simply wonderful when served with yogurt (Roabin Arabic) and some Arabic
coffee or Chai.

Lemon-Scented
Pull-Apart Coffee Cake Recipe

Active
time:1 hour Total
time:3 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the sweet yeast
dough

About 2 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ounces)all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces)granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope)instant yeast

1/2 teaspoonsalt

1/3 cup (2 1/2 fluid ounces)whole milk

2 ouncesunsalted butter

1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces)water

1 1/2 teaspoonspure vanilla extract

2 largeeggs, at room temperature

For the lemon paste
filling

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces)granulated sugar

3 tablespoonsfinely grated lemon zest (3 lemons)

1 tablespoonfinely grated orange zest

2 ouncesunsalted butter, melted

For the
tangy cream cheese icing

3 ouncescream cheese,
softened

1/3 cup (1 1/4 ounces)powdered sugar

1 tablespoonwhole milk

1 tablespoonfresh lemon juice

Directions

Make the sweet yeast
dough

1. Stir together 2 cups (9
ounces) of the flour, the sugar, the yeast, and the salt in the bowl of a stand
mixer; set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter over low heat
just until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, add the water, and set
aside until warm (120 to 130°F [49 to 54°C]), about 1 minute. Add the vanilla
extract.

2. Pour the milk mixture over the flour-yeast mixture and, using a
rubber spatula, mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Attach the
bowl to the mixer, and fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. With the mixer
on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just
until incorporated. Stop the mixer, add 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) of the remaining
flour, and resume mixing on low speed until the dough is smooth, 30 to 45
seconds. Add 2 more tablespoons flour and mix on medium speed until the dough
is smooth, soft, and slightly sticky, about 45 seconds.

3. Sprinkle a work
surface with 1 tablespoon flour and center the dough on the flour. Knead gently
until smooth and no longer sticky, about 1 minute, adding an additional 1 to 2
tablespoons flour only if necessary to lessen the stickiness. Place the dough
in a large bowl, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap, and let the dough
rise in a warm place (about 70°F [21°C]) until doubled in size, 45 to 60
minutes. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains,
the dough is ready for the next step. While the dough is rising, make the
filling.

Make the lemon paste filling

4. In a small bowl,
mix together the sugar and the lemon and orange zests. Set the sandy-wet
mixture nearby (the sugar draws out moisture from the zests to create the
consistency).

Make the coffee cake

5. Center a rack in
the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly butter a
9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. Or, lightly coat the pan with nonstick spray.

6. Gently deflate the
dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a
20-by-12-inch rectangle. Using a pastry brush spread the melted butter
generously over the dough. Cut the dough crosswise into 5 strips, each about 12
by 4 inches. (A pizza cutter is helpful here.) Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of
the zest-sugar mixture over one of the buttered rectangles. Top with a second
rectangle and sprinkle it with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the zest-sugar mixture.
Repeat with the remaining dough rectangles and zest-sugar mixture, ending with
a stack of 5 rectangles. Work carefully when adding the crumbly zest filling,
or it will fall off when you have to lift the stacked pastry later.

7. Slice the stack
crosswise through the 5 layers to create 6 equal strips, each about 4 by 2
inches. Fit these layered strips into the prepared loaf pan, cut edges up and side
by side. (While there is plenty of space on either side of the 6 strips
widthwise in the pan, fitting the strips lengthwise is tight. But that’s fine
because the spaces between the dough and the sides of the pan fill in during
baking.) Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a
warm place (70 °F [21°C]) until puffy and almost doubled in size, 30 to 50
minutes. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains,
the dough is ready for baking.

8. Bake the coffee cake
until the top is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and
let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

Make the tangy cream cheese icing

9. In a medium bowl,
using a rubber spatula, vigorously mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the milk and lemon juice until the mixture is creamy and smooth.

10. To remove the
coffee cake from the pan, tilt and rotate the pan while gently tapping it on a
counter to release the cake sides. Invert a wire rack on top of the coffee
cake, invert the cake onto the rack, and carefully lift off the pan. Invert
another rack on top, invert the cake so it is right side up, and remove the
original rack.

11. Slip a sheet of
waxed paper under the rack to catch any drips from the icing. Using a pastry brush,
coat the top of the warm cake with the icing to glaze it. (Cover and
refrigerate the leftover icing for another use. It will keep for up to 2 days.)

12. Serve the coffee
cake warm or at room temperature. To serve, you can pull apart the layers, or
you can cut the cake into 1-inch-thick slices on a slight diagonal with a long,
serrated knife. If you decide to cut the cake, don’t attempt to cut it until it
is almost completely cool.